


Dolore

by AnotherNamelessGhoul



Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Aether doesn't fuck with people hurting his friends, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Drabble, One Shot, blood and mild gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 13:08:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15949997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherNamelessGhoul/pseuds/AnotherNamelessGhoul
Summary: An inexperienced brother of sin decides to summon a ghoul. It goes about as well as one would expect.





	Dolore

It seemed like a good idea, at first. Being a relatively new member to the clergy sucked. He got all the jobs that nobody wanted. He figured that if he could make himself stand out, show that he had potential, he could move up in rank and not have to clean the bathrooms and kitchen twice daily, and if not he would have a ghoul to do it for him. Foolproof, really.

The books were easy enough to steal. The cardinal never bothered to lock his study and nobody bothered to go in. He took them from the dusty old shelf and found an empty room. He took the chalk and started to draw the needed runes in a shaky hand, the complicated network of concentric circles and lines, chanting in the Latin he had picked up since moving in. And nothing happened. He fixed a few lines that looked off and chanted louder, voice swelling in the empty chamber.

The floor opened up and something dragged its self out, some obscene terrible thing, nothing like the ghouls he had seen walking around the church. It scrambled at the floor as if unable to find purchase, nails chipping off and bleeding on the hard stone. The brother started the binding spell immediately but his voice was trembling and soft. The ghoul howled, still reaching for something unseen, eyes wild and terrified. It’s long spaded tail beat out a litany on the floor. The brother reached out for it and it slashed at the air, tearing his shirt and his chest beneath. He stumbled back with a cry of shock and pain, and the door behind him opened.

“What have you done?” It was Copia’s voice, clouded dark with an anger rarely heard from him. He was standing in the doorway with Aether behind him, unreadable beneath his mask. The brother tried to say something but he couldn’t find a voice. Aether pushed past him and over to the ghoul, who was still howling. He began to talk in a language that the brother couldn’t even begin to understand, reached out and stroked the ghoul’s matted hair.

“He’s in pain.” Aether said to Copia, shaking his head. “He never should have been called in such a crude attempt.”

“Can you help him?” Copia asked. The two kept talking like the brother wasn’t present. He edged up against the wall further from the writhing ghoul.

“I can ease his pain some now but there’s nothing I can do in the long term. Death is the only humane way now, I’m afraid.” Aether pulled the ghoul in close to his chest, whispering and making a rumbling noise almost akin to a purr. The ghoul snuggled into him and keened a high, pained sound. Aether pressed his fingers to the ghoul’s temples and it relaxed some.

“If you had studied appropriately, you would know,” the cardinal said, pacing over to him, hands clenched tight, “that there is no easy way to summon a ghoul. If done wrong, there is no limit to the physical and mental damage a bad summoning can cause. And you’ve binded this one to you.”

“I didn’t-”

“Yes, of course you didnt know. That is why only I perform summonings. That is why you do not meddle with things you do not understand.”

He unsheathed a silver blade from a pocket. “You’ll finish what you started.”

The brother stepped towards Aether and the ghoul. Aether cradled it like a child, rocking it slightly. He didnt look at the brother. He took the ghoul’s head and tipped it back, still whispering platitudes. He stroked the ghoul’s hair and it leaned back further into the touch, exposing its neck more.

“It’s easier if you can get holy water down their throat but we don’t exactly have any of that around.”

The brother grasped the knife, dropped it because he was shaking so hard. He pressed it against the soft flesh of the ghoul’s throat and pulled. Whatever spell Aether had created broke. The ghoul arched its back and shrieked, an unholy sound cut short by wet gurgles. Blood sprayed the cobblestone. The ghoul kept trying to cry out through the blood filling its airway and a fresh wave of blood sprayed after every cry.

“You fucking incompetent idiot.” Arther snarled. “Don’t let her suffer because you can’t do it right the first time.”

The brother slashed again, again, and the ghoul went still. Aether held her for a long time, still stroking her hair, her back. There was silence.

“I can’t look at you,” he said, voice low, “or I will kill you. You fucking disgusting human waste.”

The brother took a heavy step back. Copia wrapped an arm around Aether’s shoulders, pulled him to his feet.

“Get out of our sight. We can discuss punishment later, but you’ve done enough for today.”

The door shut, leaving the brother to stand alone with the carnage.


End file.
